Cambrian Players opens its season with an award-winning comedy "Mom’s Gift"

#LSN_Arts By Phil Olson, directed by Beverley Gravelle-MacLeod

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO - October 23, 2017 (LSN) Cambrian Players opens its season with an award-winning comedy about a family reunion one September afternoon in small-town Minnesota. It is Dad’s birthday and the family gathers round, including the ghost of Mom, who is visible to only one of the assembled.

Mom’s ghost has returned to the family home with a mission so that she can get into heaven, but she isn’t quite sure which of the family issues she needs to help resolve in order to be successful. The issues become apparent through the afternoon, but not all need Mom’s help.

Full of quips, characters and comedic moments, Mom’s Gift is entertaining, yet it is also poignant and compelling with a surprise ending sure to satisfy. This is a story about family members coming to terms with change, celebrating each other, and seeing new possibilities for themselves.

Several of Thunder Bay’s favourite amateur players are back, including Lauren Payette, playing the successful and sarcastic daughter, Kat, who is still struggling to understand her mother’s death and has been ordered by the court to attend her father’s birthday.

Beverley Gravelle-MacLeod is joined by a strong production team with lots of CambrianPlayers and other experience. Nathalie Roy is the stage manager, Jay Stapleton is the producer and Donna Goodman is the set designer.

The author, Phil Olson, grew up in Edina, Minnesota and he has used small-town, Minnesota as the setting for several plays. Mom’s Gift was first produced in Los Angeles in December 2013.

Mom’s Gift plays Wednesday to Saturday at 8:00 p.m. the weeks of November 15th and 22nd at the Finlandia Hall, 314 Bay Street (above the Hoito). Tickets are $17 on Wednesdays, $22 all other nights and $17 for seniors and students every night. Tickets are available at Calico Coffee Shop, Fireweed, Red Lion Smokehouse, Steeper’s, and Thunder Pet (Mountdale Ave.), and at the door, or online at Eventbrite. For information, go to www.cambrianplayers.ca.